


a good defense

by havisham



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: Character Study, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 03:25:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18065678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havisham/pseuds/havisham
Summary: (I've come to you cause I need guidance to be true)Yon-Rogg learns that blood doesn't mean as much as actions do.





	a good defense

*

The Supreme Intelligence showed himself to Yon-Rogg as his old commander, whose dead face hadn’t meant anything to him in many, many years. He told Vers that the Supreme Intelligence would take the form of the person she most admired, and it was true, but there was no need to complicate matters by telling her that such feelings could change. After all, wasn’t he always telling to control her emotions?

Yon-Rogg’s old commander would always tell him the same thing. He had been an overbearing old man, and had to be killed when he, like Mar-Vell, tried to rebel against them. It was a pity that the best soldiers always tried to run. Too much intelligence was a liability, truly. 

His attention slid over to what Vers was doing -- squaring up her shoulders as she prepared to tackle someone far larger than herself. She attacked impulsively and was slammed down onto the practice mat, where she sprang back up, ready to fight. 

Typical of her and -- surprisingly, typical of him, now, to approve. 

Vers had taken to Hala well, considering. Terrans were crude animals, to be sure, but if Vers didn’t have potential, Mar-Vell wouldn’t have latched on to her. When Yon-Rogg composed his report to the Supreme Intelligence, to explain the circumstances of Mar-Vell’s death, as well as details of her betrayal of the Kree Empire and everything they stood for, he was already prepared to take steps to keep Vers within his orbit. 

The blood had just been the first step. The power of the Tesseract within her had to be controlled. The chip could only do so much, if Vers truly lost control -- it would mean disaster, not only for herself, but for Yon-Rogg for bringing her in, and for Starforce in general. 

It could not be allowed to happen. Yon-Rogg knew his responsibilities well. When you took things in, to care for and to train, you had to prepare to destroy them as well, if they proved unsatisfactory. 

*

They’d had sex once. It had been a mistake, naturally. Anti-fraternization rules were there for a reason, to prevent this sort of thing. And yet, Vers was impulsive, headstrong and around her, for some inexplicable reason, Yon-Rogg would remember how it was like to act freely. She traced his lips with her finger and grinned. A challenge. 

He couldn’t back down, even if he regretted it later. 

*

He gave her his blood, but blood didn’t mean as much as actions did -- he learned that, painfully so. 

*

When Vers hauled him back to his ship and sent him back to the Supreme Intelligence bruised and bleeding, Yon-Rogg had plenty of time to contemplate the complicated nature of his mistakes. 

When he came to speak to the Supreme Intelligence, he was not surprised to see that the face of it had changed -- Vers grinned back at him for a moment, before she briskly tore him apart for his incompetence. 

In a way, it was just. 

In another way, it was just fucked.

**Author's Note:**

> Title and summary from Fiona Apple's "Criminal", which, yes, came out in 1997.


End file.
